Traditional Abode of Korop District's Over Desna Lands in the Late XIXth through Early XXIst Centuries

Author

Yarova Alina – a third-year postgraduate specializing in Ethnology at the NASU M. Rylskyi IASFE

Traditional Abode of Korop District's Over Desna Lands in the Late XIXth through Early XXIst Centuries

Abstract

The article deals with studying traditional huts of the populace of Korop District’s Over Desna Lands – a part of the district’s river country extended along the course of the Desna River. The nature of this area has had a significant impact on the culture of its inhabitants – a large number of wetlands and forests has determined relatively slow development of traditional building, as well as the use of wood as the main material.

The article examines designs of residential architecture and considers hut’s erection on stumps-lyhury and placement of pryzbas (mounds of earth along the outer walls of a peasant’s house) around houses.

Having considered the design of log huts, it is marked that there was very poor spreading of timber skeleton constructions on the territory of Over Desna Lands. The article analyses the ways of mural external work.

There has been investigated the planning of traditional huts in Korop District in the late ХІХth to early to mid-ХХth centuries. On the area under study, there occurred the one-compartment and two-compartment huts. Prevailing were abodes with a three-compartment layout.

The article describes the features of the interior of residential architecture, which in the late XIXth through XXth centuries were typical of the territory of Left-Bank Ukraine and simultaneously had their local singularities.

The researcher made an attempt of graphical reconstruction of the ourward appearance of a late ХІХth-century Over Desna Lands’ abode, which, according the results of the study, was log-framed, built on wooden poles, and had a pryzba around the residential section of a house and a four-pitch roof.

There has been studied the points of when and what kind of changes had been occurring in residential architecture of Korop District, e.g., when conventional dirt floor began being replaced  with wooden one, when they commenced installing the then modern roofing materials, and when they started using bricks.

Keywords

abode, courtyard, gate, stove, roofing materials, pryzba (mound of earth along the outer walls of a peasant’s house), foundation, lyhuri, canopy.

References

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